- Joined
- May 28, 2019
South Korea is an unusual country, in that it has a relatively small population of 50 million, but with maximum beauty industry saturation. Celebrities have makeup, airbrushed in photos or have a computerized filter on them on TV so they appear perfect all the time. People believe this is what's considered normal. Women are especially vulnerable, since they are often measuring themselves against their peers. South Korea due to it's small population also has a strong cultural memory. In 1968 the movie, Romeo and Juliet, was very popular there. Olivia Hussey the actress was considered the beauty ideal in South Korea. So much so that even 50 years later, many of the women lauded for their beauty have a strong resemblance to her, and celebrities are often still compared to her.
But with the rise of Plastic Surgery, the Beauty Ideal became the "standard" that Women set themselves to. Which resulted in the Gangnam unnies. Women that ended up looking almost like clones of each other.
But for some that hasn't been enough, if the ideal is the standard, how can you be even more beautiful? And you move from ideal beauty into uncanny realdoll.
Thankfully due to cultural norms and laws about showing too much skin, especially on Television, has stopped body implants from taking off. However, there is still the problem of eating disorders. So common, that celebrities openly talk about them.
"I watch what I eat and sometimes I go a bit extreme," she said. She calls her method "the water diet. When I have something important coming up, I start drinking three liters of water daily for five days straight, which makes me go to the bathroom a lot. And on the seventh day, you are basically a skeleton," she emphasized, adding that "this way, you can go from thin to skeleton-skinny."
Commonly the celebrities will make sure to don breast padding, hip padding and butt padding over their undergarments to complete the look. Wardrobe malfunctions often expose this.
The "ideal" body standards also result in Kpop performers to sometimes get dizzy spells or completely blackout, as they have no energy or stamina. Especially combined with some of their hectic performance schedules.
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